Dwars door Vlaanderen 2012

Live updates from Dwars door Vlaanderen 2012

Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of Dwars door Vlaanderen 2012, which is set to start at 11:40 CET this morning. Barry Ryan and Daniel Benson are in Flanders and will be bringing you live updates as the drama unfolds over the next few hours...

The second Flemish Classic of the season has attracted a high class field, with the likes of Mark Cavendish (Team Sky), Tyler Farrar and Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda), Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Oscar Freire (Katusha) amongst the pre-race favourites. Australian team GreenEdge will be looking for further glory after their exploits at Milan-San Remo and the Volta a Catalunya in recent days. 

The riders will face a total of 13 climbs along the demanding 200km route, which includes a testing finale that features the potentially decisive Nokereberg climb just 6km from the finish.

2008 winner Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) will be hoping for victory again, this time in the colours of Omega Pharma-QuickStep, but it's a race that has been dominated by Belgian riders since its inception in 1945.

As the race progresses, three riders have broken away from the peloton. Thomas Vaitkus (GreenEdge), Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM) and William Clarke (Champion System) have opened up a small gap.

The riders are approaching the first big climb of the day - New Kvwaremont. Just past the 75km point and the average speed is just over 50km/h. That's all set to change in the next few minutes.

Daniel taking over live coverage from Mark.

We're just going through the feed zone but we have two riders clear of the peloton with a 9 second lead on bunch. So far no move has succeeded.

There's a very strong chance of a sprint in today's race. Matt Goss, Oscar Freire, Mark Cavendish and a host of other sprinters are all here. With no wind, no rain and perfect sunshine it will be very hard for a break to stay away.

Mark Cavendish talked down his chances at the start this morning though. He said that the team would be looking to work for Jeremy Hunt and Chris Sutton and that he would help aid his teammates. We'll see if that holds true or not but it's worth pointing out that Sky only have 6 riders in today's race.

110km remaining from 200km

We have 13 riders, 27 seconds clear of the peloton. We're just waiting on the names and race numbers to come through.

The gap is now up to 42 seconds. This might be a hard one if they can work together. It all depends on the make-up of the break.

Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank) Troels Vinther (Saxo Bank), Manuel Belletti (AG2r), Lloyd Mondory (AG2r), Travis Meyer (GreenEdge), Davide Cimolai (Lampre), Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis), Ronan van Zandbeek (Project 1t4i), Arkimedes Arguelyes (RusVelo) have 55 seconds on the bunch. There is a counter attack though.

Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank) Troels Vinther (Saxo Bank), Manuel Belletti (AG2r), Lloyd Mondory (AG2r), Travis Meyer (GreenEdge), Davide Cimolai (Lampre), Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis), Ronan van Zandbeek (Project 1t4i), Arkimedes Arguelyes (RusVelo) have 55 seconds on the bunch. There is a counter attack though.

Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank) Troels Vinther (Saxo Bank), Manuel Belletti (AG2r), Lloyd Mondory (AG2r), Travis Meyer (GreenEdge), Davide Cimolai (Lampre), Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis), Ronan van Zandbeek (Project 1t4i), Arkimedes Arguelyes (RusVelo) have 55 seconds on the bunch. There is a counter attack though.

Right now Rabobank are leading the chase from the peloton. Clearly Mark Renshaw has made the call and asked him men to pull on the front.

86km remaining from 200km

86 km to go and the gap is down to 11 seconds. There are 15 riders clear, but QuickStep, with help from Rabobank have chased this one all down.

Still, there are a number of climbs still to come and even if/when this move is brought back we'll see further attacks all the way to the finish.

At the start of the race this morning we spoke to Matt White from Greenedge. His team have come to life in the last two weeks, wining the team time trial in Tirreno, San Remo and then back-to-back wins in Catalunya. You can watch the video with White, right here.

86km remaining from 200km

The gap is down to 11 seconds.

It looks like QuickStep had two men in that counter, Chavanel the winner in 2008 and Terpstra, and they've both made it into the lead.

The break is constantly evolving though and it looks like we've got a new set of riders, including Chavanel and Terpstra in the lead move.

So we now have 8 riders in the lead with a gap of 1:15 on the bunch.

The gap is 1:50 now.

The eight riders in the lead, are: Chavanel, Mørkøv, Mondory, Wynants, Terpstra, Ghyselinck, Jerome and Wallays.

The leaders have close to two minutes now., their lead at 1:58.

The only surprise is that Rambo isnt in the break today. He's in fact hanging on at the back of the bunch.

64km remaining from 200km

64km to go and we're closing in on the Eikenberg. Vacansoleil are leading the chase in the peloton, with the lead at 2:00

The break hit the climb with Wallays setting the pace. Chavanel caught the leaders on his own and it's his teammate Terpstra who moves to the front of the group and begins to the set the pace.

He smartly moves over to the right hand side of the road, hugging the smooth gutter and avoiding the cobbles, the rest of the group are forced to follow him.

And the peloton hit the climb now, they dont sweep into the smooth gutter and riders swarm all over the road trying to hold their positions. QuickStep have a few men near the front, trying to break the chase up and keep themselves out of trouble.

There's a big split in the bunch Leukemans setting the pace has caused all the damage and the peloton has splintered into a number of small echelons.

The injection of pace has reduced the gap to the leaders to 1:24.

The bunch is slowly coming back together but that's a bad sign for some of the riders already dropped on the first serious pace increase.

Back up the road, and the break continue to forge ahead. The gap is down to 1:26 as they begin to climb the next hill, The Steenbeekdries.

Steegmans is near the head of the field with Ciolek on his wheel. The German will be hoping that there's a sprint finish but with Cavendish and Goss both here his chances dont look great.

Here's  a start line gallery from this morning.

Devolder hits the deck after 10km of racing. He was back on the bike and he's still in the race.

Barredo, Rabobank, has his jersey fully open. It's not warm.

Develoder is back in the wars, picking up a new bike from the team car and chasing back on.

Mark Cavendish is near the front of the peloton, with four Sky riders around him.

The Garmin guys are doing the chasing on the front of the bunch though. The gap has gone out again to 1:49.

Gatto has a puncture and has to wait for a team car.

Garmin continue their pace setting. The gap is down to 1:31 but Terpstra takes a long turn on the front but with 41km to go Garmin are going to need help from other teams. No sign of GreedEdge or Katusha yet.

40km remaining from 200km

The peloton split on the last climb and Cavendish wasn't able to make the first group but as we've seen before it may still back back together.

The leaders are on the Oude-Kwaremont and Chavanel moves to the front for the first time. He immediately has the break stretched out.

Ghyselinck is the first victim, just as Garmin hit the lower slopes of the climb. The gap is 1:16.

Jack Baurer, the Garmin rider setting the pace in pursuit of the Chavanel group. He's taken about 10 seconds off the break in the last kilometre.

As Terpstra takes over for Quickstep at the head of the break. The Belgian team are using their strength in numbers well but the gap is still 1:10.

Terpstra and Wallays have ridden away from the rest of the break, including Chavanel. They're over the climb but they've got the Paterberg coming up very, very soon.

Pichot has jumped away from the peloton. On his own.

Terpstra, again finds the smoother section of the climb and accelerates away from Wallays.

Vanmarcke has attacked from the bunch, and he comes flying past Pichot. That's impressive.

That must have come on the lower slopes of the Paterberg. Pozzato is leading the chase behind, with Steegmans also there.

30km remaining from 200km

30km to go, Terpstra is ahead of the remnants of the break, with Vanmarke leading another charge from the peloton. The sprinters's teams need to grab this race by the scruff of the neck sooner rather than later.

Chavanel is just sitting at the back of the break, because with Terpstra up the road he can't contribute to the chase.

Vanmarcke has been brought back by Pippo's group, while Terpstra leads by 1:35. This would be a major shock if he survives until the finish.

Terpstra has 2 minutes on the peloton.

And now I'm handing live coverage back over to Mark.

20km remaining from 200km

Terpstra is looking strong as he enters the final 20km. It will still be a shock if he hangs on, but he isn't showing any signs of slowing at this stage.

Terpstra taking instructions from the team car. What can they be?

The chasing pack are now well strung out behind the leaders. The Kvaremont is taking its toll. Pozzato and Chavanel in the third group back.

The chasing pack are now well strung out behind the leaders. Pozzato and Chavanel in the third group back.

The chasing pack are now well strung out behind the leaders. Pozzato and Chavanel in the third group back.

The chasing pack are now well strung out behind the leaders. Pozzato and Chavanel in the third group back.

The chasing pack are now well strung out behind the leaders. Pozzato and Chavanel in the third group back.

Terpstra is 1:24 ahead with 13km to go. The gap is staying fairly constant at the moment.

10km remaining from 200km

Entering the final phase of the race now. Still Terpstra is looking strong. almost 90 seconds clear of a group of eleven pursuers.

Chasing pack: Chavanel, Morkov, Mondory, Ghyselinck, Jerome, Wallays, Pichot, De Kort, Vanmarcke, Keukeleire, Pozzato. They are 1:27 down with 8km to go.

5km remaining from 200km

Gap is creeping down but surely Terpstra has too much of a lead.

De Kort and Chavanel burst clear from the chasing pack looking to secure the podium places. Just 2km to go now for Terpstra. He's turned the race into a procession.

Terpstra all smiles with a few hundred metres to go.

RESULT (Top three): 1 Terpstra 2 Chavanel 3 De Kort

Unofficial winning margin for Terpstra was 1:09

Top Ten: 1 Terpstra 2 Chavanel 3 De Kort 4 Ghyselinck 5 Pichot 6 Pozzato 7 Vanmarcke 8 Wynants 9 Mondory 10 Keukeleire

For brief race report and brief results click here - full report and results will follow...